The 1st part of the podcast is Ironman Wisconsin Champion Dani Fisher talking about how she transformed her swimming. Dani never swam till college, where she learned it from scratch. She can now almost break 1 hour. She talks about what she's doing to improve her swimming.

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The 2nd part is Coach Steve talking about aspects of your stroke you can improve to become a better swimming. Focusing on your breathing and your catch phase!

Did you sign up for IRONMAN and have questions on how to structure your training? I answer these questions in the podcast.

Topics:

Off Season Training

Training Blocks

Nutrition

Pacing 

Investing into a Coach

Training Plans:

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/my-training-plans/Steven%20Brandes

Are you a swimmer who's not getting faster? If so, then this is the podcast for you? You are entering the off season and you need to change things up, please don't just back into the same routine you've always done.

Steve is in KONA!

This is a new push, every month Steve with be presenting 3 workouts to do each week for each sport. Don't take these workouts as the holy grail, if your coach thinks otherwise, listen to your coach. They have your overall plan in mind, but these are good effective workouts to think about.

Swim:

200-400 warm up

3-4 Rounds:

1-3 Drill

1st- 25 FULL Sculling

2nd- 25 Single Arm Right, 25 Single Arm Left

3rd- 12.5 Water Polo, 12.5 Free, 12.5 Water Polo, 12.5 Free

4- 2x25 95% Free R:15

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5x50 R:15 *Establish Baseline Stroke Length per 25

10-20x25 R:15

odds: N-1 at 75%

evens: N-1 at 95%

200 Cool Down

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Bike: 15-30min Warm Up

4-6x20" Spin Ups, 90rpm to 120+ rpms. Rest:1min

4-8x20" MAX SPRINT in biggest gear, Rest:3-4 minutes easy spinning.

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Run: 1-2 Mile progressive warm up

run to a hill then perform

Marches, High Knee, Butt Kicks, Bounding up the hill, walk down after each.

Then 4-8x20" Max Sprint, Rest: 2-3 minute walk down after each. Dropping a sock after each one to mark your length of the sprint, trying to match each one. Measuring your power production for each.R=

We are PUMPED to have Dani Fischer on the podcast! Straight off her 2017 Ironman Wisconsin WIN! Dani talks about her experience of quickly becoming one of the best age groupers in the worlds and her short stint as a PRO triathlete. 

Dani also gets into great detail about her training program, how she got herself out of a serious burnout, as well as how she works her nutrition into her training!

Did you just do an IRONMAN? Are you unsure on what to do next? Whatever you do, don't quit the sport. You would be surprised how many people get chewed up and spit out from the IRONMAN grind. Listen to some good ideas on how to set up a successful season.

Heather is going to KONA!!!! Super excited!

In this episode, we preview Ironman Wisconsin and what to expect in the weeks leading into the race and how to taper. We preview the swim, bike, and run course. We discuss how the NEW swim start will be done and how to execute the bike and run course.

http://www.ironman.com/~/media/97c5511386e642458af7c04168756bb4/2017%20im%20wisconsin%20athlete%20guide%20reduced%20size%208.pdf

Are you afraid to suffer? Yes, i'm talking to you! It's quite common and the biggest reason people fail on race day... they are not committed to push through that wall. Learn more about it here!

Stroke rate matters in swimming. I recently did a test in the pool where i did 10x200, starting at 60 strokes per minute and going up to 80 strokes per minute. The results were pretty worthy of sharing!

Racing a hot triathlon? Steve talks about how to manage your race day!